1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a mesoporous carbon composite, a method of preparing the same and a fuel cell using the carbon composite, and more particularly, to a mesoporous carbon composite that is coated with a conductive polymer to reduce a resistance between carbon particles, thereby reducing electrode resistance, a method of preparing the same, and a fuel cell using the mesoporous carbon composite as a catalyst support.
2. Description of the Related Art
Catalysts contained in electrodes for fuel cells play an important role in facilitating electrochemical reactions, and thus, it is beneficial to increase the activity of these catalysts. Since catalyst activity increases as the reaction surface area of the catalyst increases, catalyst particles should be reduced in diameter to increase the reaction surface area and should be uniformly distributed. To meet these requirements, a catalyst support should also have a large surface area, and thus much research on these requirements has been conducted. Meanwhile, in addition to a large surface area, which may be obtained through high porosity, a fuel cell catalyst support must have sufficient electrical conductivity to act as a path for the flow of electrons. A conventional example of a catalyst support is an amorphous microporous carbon powder, such as activated carbon or carbon black.
However, it is known that micropores of such amorphous microporous carbon particles are poorly connected. Therefore, in a conventional direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), a supported catalyst that is prepared using an amorphous microporous carbon powder as a support exhibits much lower reactivity than do metal particles used by themselves as a catalyst. However, when metal particles are used as a catalyst, the amount of the catalyst required is greater, and thus, the manufacturing costs of a DMFC increase. Accordingly, the development of a supported catalyst that can improve catalyst activity is urgently required.